Improvement in railway-car safety apparatus



KATH'ARINE E. HOLMES.

Improvement in Railway CarV Safty Apparatus.

N0. 119,766. yPatented' Oct. 0, E871,

Fay!

UNITED STATES KATHARINE E. HOLMES, OF OAMBRIDGEPORT, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY-CAR SAFETY APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 119,766, dated October10, 1871.

To all 'whom 'it may conce-rn:

Be it known that I, KATHARINE E. HOLMES, of Oambridgeport, ofthe countyof Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulor Improved Safety Apparatus for Railway Carriage; and do hereby declarethe same to be fully described in the following speciiication, andrepresented in the' accompanying drawing, of which- Figure l exhibits aside view of two carriages with it applied to each of them, Fig. 2 is anend view of one of such carriages, each having like mechanism applied toit.

The object of my safety-apparatus is to catch a person while fallingbetween two carriages of a train, and prevent him from being rim over bythe wheels. The nature of my invention consists mainly in thecombination and arrangement of guards of a peculiar kind, as described,and mechanism for adjusting them relatively to each other and the track,all being as hereinafter explained.

In such drawing the carriages are shownrat Av and B, their end platformbeing represented at a c, and their truck-frames at b b. Eachtruckframeis to be supposed to be provided withthe requisite number ofwheels c c. To the outer end of each truck-frame there is hinged aright-an gular guard, O, composed of a metallic frame, d, and wires O,extended across it both widthwise and lengthwise. This guard is furthersupported by a hanger, D, formed and arranged as shown, and going upthrough the guard, and also through a lifter-bar, E, which is arrangedunderneath the platform a, and slides vertically on screws e e',extending down therefrom and provided with nuts f f, as shown. Thehanger also has screws i on its ends where it goes through thelifter-bar, there being nuts g h on each of such screws, one being aboveand other below the lifter-bar, as shown. From the said lii'terbar atongue, 7c, extends forward through a slot, l, made vertically in platem, fixed to the front of the platform a, at its middle. A pin, u, goeslaterally through the plate and slot, and serves to support the tonguewhen upon such pin. The purpose of the tongue and pin and slotted plate,is to maintain the guard at an elevation to cause it pass over the nextadjacent guard of the next car. The purpose of the hanger and lifter,and their screws and nuts, as described, is to enable the guard tobeadjusted to the requisite distance above a track or to the properheight relatively to the guard of another car. The drawbars of the twocars are shown at G G as connected by a link, H', in the usual manner,the connection-pins being represented at P P.

I claim- 1. The combination of the hanger D provided withadjusting-screws e e and nuts f j', as speciiied, with the railwaycarriage and the guard, and applied thereto, as set forth.

2. rEhe arrangement and combination of the slotted plate m, and itssupport-'pin n, and the lifter-bar E, as described, yprovided withscrews and nuts, as shown, with the carriage A or B,

l the hangerD and the guard C, applied together,

substantially as explained.

3. The combination and arrangement of the two guards O O, as described,and the mechanisms, substantially as described, for adjusting themvertically, as set forth, with the -two railway carriages A B, connectedas explained.

K. E. HOLMES.

Witnesses R. H. EDDY,

